Left: Stephen Dennis (Maricopa County Jail). Right: Aliccia Grant (GoFundMe).
An Arizona husband will spend nearly two decades in prison after he stabbed his new wife to death following a quarrel about an annulment.
Stephen Dennis, 38, was sentenced to 18 years behind bars after pleading guilty to second-degree murder in the death of 37-year-old Aliccia Grant in Phoenix. According to the Maricopa County Attorney”s Office, police responded in the early morning hours of Sept. 9 to a Home Depot in north Phoenix.
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Witnesses said they heard a woman, later identified as Grant, screaming for help. They found her sitting in the driver’s seat of a red Toyota Prius, suffering from multiple stab wounds. Dennis was in the passenger seat and exited the car before arguing with a bystander, grabbing a bag, and running.
As the officers who were first to arrive applied pressure to Grant’s wounds, she “made a dying declaration to him identifying Dennis as her attacker,” prosecutors said.
Paramedics rushed Grant to the hospital, where doctors pronounced her dead. Not long after the incident, Dennis called 911 to report that he had stabbed his wife. He also told cops where they could find the murder weapon, which they later recovered.
Dennis later said the couple had been recently married and were arguing about an annulment at the time of the stabbing, per prosecutors.
“This wasn’t just a violent crime — it was an act of betrayal carried out by someone who should have been a source of safety, not fear,” County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said in a statement. “There is something especially cruel about a murder that takes place within a relationship that’s intended to be built on trust. We will continue to aggressively pursue and hold violent domestic abusers accountable.”
Grant left behind two children. Her friends remembered her for her “endlessly hopeful energy,” a GoFundMe page said.
“Aliccia saw no dream as too big. She chased hers with open eyes and a full heart. She was a self-made entrepreneur, cosmetologist, author, and model. Her story is one of perseverance and the power of believing in yourself,” the account reads.
